Nascar Fans Geared Up For Race

JIFFY LUBE MIAMI 300

In the wildly eclectic world of auto racing, there's nothing quite like NASCAR and its fervent band of followers.

Just ask Mark Riff, manager of the Gold Coaster Mobile Home and RV Park, located 5 miles from the new Homestead Motorsports Complex.

Riff put an ad in an auto racing newsletter a year ago, right after NASCAR announced it would hold its 1995 Busch Grand National Series finale at Homestead to mark the track's grand opening this weekend.

"The response was outstanding," said Riff, who made reservations for fans from North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, "and from all over the state of Florida. I probably got over 90 calls after that ad appeared."

The fans will begin rolling in Thursday, and by Friday Riff expects most of his 250 fully equipped RV sites to be occupied. Time trials begin Friday and the big race, the Jiffy Lube Miami 300, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

"This will be a lot bigger crowd than I've had since Hurricane Andrew," said Riff, whose trailer park was destroyed by the storm three years ago. "The racetrack is gonna help the economy in Homestead and Florida City. I'm looking forward to it for years to come. When the Winston Cup series gets here, it's gonna really be great. I can't wait for that."

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Miami Motorsports President Ralph Sanchez would love to someday bring a Winston Cup race to the track he worked so hard to get built. But for now, he's thrilled to have Sunday's Busch Grand National race, which will be run before a sellout crowd of more than 60,000.

While the Busch Series has been described as Triple-A to Winston Cup's major league, some of NASCAR's better drivers compete in both series. More than a dozen Winston Cup drivers have entered this weekend's race, including marquee names such as Mark Martin, Ken Schrader, Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty.

"We knew it was going to happen," Sanchez said of the sellout. "There is no other type of racing, as far as [stock-car fans] are concerned."

Sanchez said 56 percent of the tickets sold went outside Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. By comparison, 25 percent of the tickets to the downtown Grand Prix of Miami were sold to fans outside the three-county area when it was an IMSA race. Even after it became a more glamorous IndyCar event last year, only 48 percent of the Grand Prix tickets were sold outside the area.

This year's Grand Prix of Miami will be held at Homestead March 1-3. That race will likely be sold out, too, but Riff's trailer park might not be. RVs just aren't as popular with the IndyCar set as they are among NASCAR fans.

Fans such as John Rydecki of Fort Myers. He and his wife, Diane, are coming over Friday with their two kids and Diane's parents in a 35-foot RV. They'll park at the Gold Coaster by night and the Homestead racetrack infield by day.